Big saves from Rolston helps Sea Blues beat St Pat’s
Connacht Gold IFC Semi-Final
Easkey St Patrick’s 3-11 1-13
I
F THIS is to be Easkey’s glory year in the Connacht Gold Intermediate Football Championship, they’ll look back on the day Daniel Rolston came of age as a goalkeeper.
In last year’s county semi-final Rolston scored a goal – when Easkey lost after extra-time to St Farnan’s – and in last Saturday’s county semi-final, with another west Sligo side, St Patrick’s, as opponents, Rolston was saving goals.
St Patrick’s, who lost this entertaining end-to-end game at Markievicz Park by four points, 3-11 to 1-13, will wonder what might have happened had they twice converted goal chances in the opening five minutes of the second-half.
Trailing by six points at the break, 2-5 to 0-5, with Easkey having twice goaled in the first-half through Jack Scott (fortuitously) and Kevin Duffy (expertly), St Patrick’s knew that they had to go for broke.
A goal appeared inevitable when Cathal Finneran pulled the trigger after getting a pass from fellow midfielder James Clarke. But Daniel Rolston managed to turn the ball out for a ‘45’. Then a 35th minute goal effort from Conor Kevany, whose dad, Declan, is from Easkey, was blocked by Daniel Rolston, who was having one of those days that every goalkeeper dreams about.
When St Patrick’s finally got the ball in Easkey’s net, with 11 minutes of normal time left, Rolston made a save – Donal Brady forced a shot home at the second attempt after his initial effort was stopped by Easkey’s inspired netminder.
St Patrick’s, who won a lot of possession around the middle and had a talented finisher in Padraic Clarke, who kicked half a dozen points, will also reflect on the goals they missed.
CALM: Easkey goalkeeper Daniel Rolston, gets a pass away during last Saturday’s county semi-final against St Patrick’s.
A 26th minute attack saw Daragh Williams feed Jim Davis, whose low shot, from a tight angle, was narrowly wide.
In the second-half Davis turned provider, releasing Williams for a shot at goal – but he aimed it straight at Daniel Rolston, who gathered.
After 56 minutes Padraic Clarke
side-stepped and dummied his way to a shooting position, but he dragged an effort inches off target. At this late stage Easkey’s lead was four points, 3-10 to 1-12, and they still weren’t safe. Clarke would land his sixth point of proceedings with a minute left but, fittingly, Daniel Rolston had the final say – he converted a ‘45’ in the first minute of added time.
Despite the plethora of goal chances that St Patrick’s had, Easkey still managed large swathes of this game. Jack Scott, scorer of 1-1, and Bernard Feeney were the winners’ unsung heroes, so too Fionn Moylan, who scored a second-half goal.
Easkey, who were without the unavailable Mikey Gordon, were also minus Niall Kilcullen for the second-half – the centre-back was withdrawn at half-time because of illness. Centre-forward Andrew Kilcullen, who contributed 0-5, and full-forward Joe McHugh, were the busiest of Easkey’s attackers – one of Kilcullen’s better points stemmed from a ninth minute chip lift after he ran onto Rory McHugh’s pass.
The opening 15 minutes were frantic – St Patrick’s were twice in front, 0-2 to 0-1 and 0-4 to 0-3, but Jack Scott’s lucky 16th minute goal set Easkey on their way.